steering wheel shake 60mph and above

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time poster :)

My 03 Grand Marquis has this same problem and it's driving me crazy. Like the one poster said, I've thought about selling the the blessed thing!

Had the tires balanced a few times, helped but no cigar. Swapped a few rims, no help. The rotors had already been changed with no result.

Replaced the front tires with Michelin MXV4s. Helped a little, but still there.

My neighbor thought it sounded like inner tie rod ends so I changed the upper control arms, lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, all problem solvers. I had already changed the sway bar links.

LBJs were worn a little otherwise it was fine. Tightened up a little but still wobble.

I've been planning on changing the LCA bushings and then the shocks/springs (what else is there??) then found this thread :D

Before I spend more one this car I'd like to check the rack and pinion backlash. But I have never touched a r&p unit before outside of the tie rod ends. Can anyone give me some guidance?

Thanks,

Pete
 
Wow mega old post. Somewhere buried in this thread was the comment:

Check steering box preload 53inch lbs then back off 1/8 turn.

I assume this means, with the steering centered, get under the car, loosen the stamped metal lock nut on the steering rack, tighten the nut in the center of the stamped metal nut to 53 in lbs, then back off 1/8 turn then lock the stamped metal lock nut down again.

I think when I went to do this, I found it was going to be difficult or impossible to verify this adjustment w/ the rack on the car, and I gave up and never messed with it. I think the issue I found was there was no easy way to get my mini 0-90 in lb dial torque wrench on the nut and still be able to turn and read it. But this is me trying to remember what I did years ago, maybe I'm remembering wrong. I ended up solving the steering shake by balancing the tires hot and paying attention to have less than 0.10 oz error, per side, on the balance job when I did it. A grand marquis with 16" wheels and narrow, high profile tires should be much less sensitive to wheel balance than an 18" wheel with stiff tires though. I have MXV4's on my Taurus, just put them on, and they are a super soft 1 ply sidewall luxury cruiser tire. They are super super smooth riding and, coincidentally, eliminated a high speed vibration I could never get rid of on that Taurus w/ other tires on it. The Taurus uses 215/60/16s. It's like driving on a road made of velvet with the MXV4's. They are kindof a squirmy tire if you push them but in a straight line my god do they ride smooth.
 
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Shimmy-shake?

My God man, it's a war out there! This is combat ... damn the torpedoes, and full speed ahead!

I get an occasional minor shake / shimmy, and just drive right through it. It comes & goes, but mine is not repeatable. Tires & roads seem for me to be the culprit. Happened with my BFG's & my Coopers.
 
^what you describe, I get with the extremely low profile tires on my old BMW (235/40/18 front 265/35/18 rear). You get shimmying in the steering when you hit small bumps or pavement with a rough texture, but no speed-related vibrations. I don't notice that w/ the Marauder though. I am still running KDW's on the front, some newer ones.
 
I have been cured so there is hope for you.

Since my last post about the shakes in August 2009 I have been cured. I don't know how but Firestone Tire in Short Pump (Richmond) Virginia fixed it. They have some extremely qualified techs. I told them about my issue and how I could not enjoy my car anymore and they got it straight. I am sorry its been so long that I don't know exactly what they did but it wasn't more then the simple basics but they obviously did it right.

I do remember leaving their lot and getting on the highway and feeling the the wheel shake. I turned around and headed right back to the shop and by the time I got there it was gone. Ever since then the the car has been fine.

They know me and my car very well so if you want to drop me a PM I'd be glad to put you in touch with them.

It sounds crazy but these guys fixed my other bizarre Marauder issues such as wipers, ac blowing out wrong vents, adjustable pedal and others.

The only thing that is still wrong is my speedometer / odometer. It is by plus 5mph and the odometer is equally off. However when I have my Nittos 305's on the back it is pretty close to being accurate. I can live with looking at 70mph and knowing I'm only doing 65mph.
 
Thanks a million guys, I really appreciate the help.

I'll take a look at the r&p now that I know what to look for. If I have to pull it off though I might as well change it. Maybe.

A hot road force is now on the menu too. I'll talk to my shop so they know when I'm coming. Jet I've sent a PM, thanks.

The Michelins really are soft! Great wet traction though. I run Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW2s on the back year 'round.

Of course I don't have the firebreathing monsters you guys do :)

To the battle then! I will definitely report back. And thanks again.

Pete
 
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Pete
I try to remember on Monday. If you here from me by Wednesday drop me another message.
Best
John
 
JET said:
Since my last post about the shakes in August 2009 I have been cured. I don't know how but Firestone Tire in Short Pump (Richmond) Virginia fixed it. They have some extremely qualified techs. I told them about my issue and how I could not enjoy my car anymore and they got it straight. I am sorry its been so long that I don't know exactly what they did but it wasn't more then the simple basics but they obviously did it right.

I do remember leaving their lot and getting on the highway and feeling the the wheel shake. I turned around and headed right back to the shop and by the time I got there it was gone. Ever since then the the car has been fine.

They know me and my car very well so if you want to drop me a PM I'd be glad to put you in touch with them.

It sounds crazy but these guys fixed my other bizarre Marauder issues such as wipers, ac blowing out wrong vents, adjustable pedal and others.

The only thing that is still wrong is my speedometer / odometer. It is by plus 5mph and the odometer is equally off. However when I have my Nittos 305's on the back it is pretty close to being accurate. I can live with looking at 70mph and knowing I'm only doing 65mph.
Click to expand...

You can fix that in the tune with the hand held. You should fix it because that means your car is now adding additional miles to the odometer.
 
One year later, update:

Changed the bearings and complete suspension. So the ONLY bit that is original is the LCA bushings.

It's still there, but barely. I'll try a hot Road Force balance and report back.

Pete
 
You've never been to a bikini garage? ;) :D

According to this site, it's best to have the tires balanced when they're heated up from driving.

Pete
 
Yeah if you let a car sit for a few hours and check tire balance, then drive on the same tire until it's fully warmed up then check it again, you will find a difference. I have my own electronic spin balancer and have observed around 0.5 oz difference hot to cold on some tires (every model tire is a little different, some flat spot more than others). A regular radial tire still gets a minor flat spot from parking on it, that goes away as soon as you warm the tire up. Most people don't realize this, but if you check the tire runout of a radial tire a car has been parked on for a few hours, it's pretty noticeable when spinning it on a balancer. Balancing a cold tire the car has sat on will affect the accuracy of your balance and on some cars it really matters. On my Marauder with KDWs on the front, the only way I was able to eliminate my 60 mph steering "nibble" shake was to balance the tires warm. The nibble never came back, and this is probably 20k miles later on the same tires. One option is to drive your car for 10+ minutes, go home, immediately jack the front end up, remove both wheels, and go have a shop rebalance them off the car. It doesn't have to be a road force balance (a road force machine still does the balancing part like any other spin balancer, but it will have more diagnostic tests to see if your wheels are bent or you have a bad tire - helpful if you really do have a bent wheel or bad tire). Your tires don't have to actually be warm when they are balanced, you just want to remove them from having the weight of the car on them when they are warm and then not let them cool down w/ a car sitting on them, making minor flat spots.
 
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Here is an example of a manufacturer's TSB for trouble shooting wheel balance issues, that recommends warming the tires up and then immediately removing them for balancing, so that no temporary flat spots form and affect wheel balance (in this case Jaguar, but I have seen Toyota TSB's that say the same). That is where I came up w/ the idea to try this on the Marauder, and it worked. I do this for all my cars now if I ever check/rebalance a wheel/tire assembly that is in service.

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/TSB2/XJ_XK/204Suspension/204-17am wheel shimmy.pdf

^see steps 1 and 2
 
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LeoVampire said:
Ask them to check the ballance of the tire's before they pull the weight's off to see if it is that.
I had the same problem between 65 to 70 and found out the ballance was off on both tires by .5 ounce's on both.
Click to expand...


DITTO^^^ Rebalancing fixed mine also.
 
Old thread, but my Blue car does it too. Its very hit or miss. Sometimes its pretty noticeable. Other times its not. Then there are sometimes the car is as smooth as glass. I just dont get it. Road forced the tires multiple times, moved wheels around, checked suspension, alignments perfect, etc. Even warrantied a tire. Still does it. 41k miles on the car. Very frustrating!
 
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